Inflectarius approximans

BIO210

Reproduction

Although there is much information in the educated world to assist
in learning about terrestrial gastropods in the Polygridae family, there is not much information specific to
Inflectarius approximans and their reproduction. As reproduction is fairly
the same throughout this category of snails I can tell you some
things that might be of interest.

Our land snail has both male and female reproductive organs,
in other words it is hermaphroditic (Zipcode
Zoo, 2012). Another word for hermaphroditic is monecious,
meaning 'one house', or one snail for both reproductive organs (Hickman, 2012).
Some snails have what are known as love darts, but the type of snail
that we are talking about here does not (Zipcode Zoo, 2012).
Love darts are used for courtship and other mating behaviors (Encyclopedia
of Life, 2012). Gastropods can be differentiated and
identified by the differences in reproductive anatomy (Zipcode
Zoo, 2012).

During a type of sexual reproduction called copulation, snails
try to keep away from self-fertilization by a transfer in packets of
sperm identified as spermatophores through one another's genital
pores (Hickman
et al. 2012). This stage can take anywhere from four
to seven minutes (Encyclopedia
of Life, 2012). After the snail eggs have been fertilized
by transfer of a spermatophore, the snail usually travels to a
nearby log or hole in the ground where it will lay the fertilized
eggs (Hickman
et al. 2012). Terrestrial snails like Inflectarius
approximans grow by direct development (Zipcode
Zoo, 2012). As a result of not living in an aquatic
environment these snails have lost the veliger larval stage (Hickman,
2012). Snails grow within the eggs during development and
when hatch they look just like an adult snail, only smaller, which
is what is meant by direct development.